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Chapter 45
The citizens who were panicked just a second ago, upon hearing the Elder Princess's words, mostly knelt excitedly before Gu Sang.
But some citizens were still puzzled, murmuring that it was supposed to be the Emperor who sent the Elder Princess to save them, wasn't it?
Shouldn't it be the imperial family who rescues them?
"Elder Princess, how is the situation under control?"
"Thanks to your cure and isolation methods, everything is under control now. The death toll is less than a thousand."
In the past, when plagues broke out, the deaths would be in the tens of thousands!
Gu Sang and the Elder Princess exchanged a smile, both seeing the blazing ambition in each other's eyes as they looked at the kneeling citizens expressing gratitude.
From this moment on, the countdown for Pei Changying's imperial throne had begun!
Gu Sang asked the people to rise.
She heard the doubts and confusion from below, so she immediately pointed at the Elder Princess in front of all the citizens.
With words that were resolute, powerful, and shook their hearts, she said, "I know you are all wondering why it was me who saved you and not the Emperor."
"Very well, I shall tell you now!"
"Half a month ago, I learned of the plague that broke out here and passed on the cure and isolation methods to the Emperor! But not only did the Emperor not act, he even threatened to force me to become his consort by holding your lives at stake!"
"Transmitting the cure through illusions was already my limit; I had no way to descend upon this world in person. But the Emperor did not believe me and grew increasingly selfish, disregarding your lives."
"I did not want to see the citizens become displaced refugees, with corpses littering the city. So I sent word to the Elder Princess, asking her to bring the cure for the plague."
"You must remember, the Elder Princess was your destined savior."
"And that mighty Emperor, in order to force me to appear as his consort, heartlessly abandoned you! This is no secret; you can ask the imperial physicians if it is true!"
"It was the Elder Princess who defied the Emperor's orders and came to save you, risking her own life!"
"And the Emperor who treats human life as mere grass, had clearly researched the cure long ago but delayed taking action! Would you still support such an Emperor?"
These few short sentences left all the citizens stunned.
They immediately turned to look at the imperial physicians.
The physicians could only bite their lips and lower their heads in disappointment, acknowledging before the citizens that the Emperor indeed knew about the plague and had a cure, but delayed giving the order to save lives.
So it was true...
The Divine Lady spoke the truth?
The Emperor selfishly abandoned an entire city of citizens?
To force the Divine Lady to appear as his consort, he was willing to discard tens of thousands of lives?
The people went from shock and disappointment to coldness in their hearts, then to self-mockery.
They had already survived death; what was there to be heartbroken about? It was nothing new for Emperors to be heartless!
Soon, the citizens accepted this fact and shouted loudly at the Elder Princess:
"The Emperor abandoned us! He had the cure but didn't order disaster relief!"
"It was the Elder Princess who saved our lives."
"If not for the Elder Princess defying orders and coming here, forcibly ordering the nearby granaries to release grain for disaster relief, we would have starved to death long ago! From now on, we support the Elder Princess!"
"Support the Elder Princess!"
Voices of anguish and excitement echoed back and forth throughout the city.
Thunderous sounds came from the distant sky, as if their cries had resounded to the heavens and were answered by the world itself.
Gu Sang looked at these impassioned citizens.
She knew.
This time.
Pei Changying's reputation was utterly ruined!
Time to proceed to the next step!
Gu Sang glanced at the Elder Princess and spoke, "I know you need a large amount of grain after the disaster, so today I shall bring you good news."
"In Fujian and Lingnan, there is a crop called sweet potatoes..."
As Gu Sang explained the uses of sweet potatoes, she showed them the tubers and vines.
To help them recognize this crop when the time came.
The citizens listened to Gu Sang's words about sweet potatoes, their eyes shining brightly.
Sweet potatoes, once planted, would yield so much that even pigs couldn't finish them??
There was such a wonderful thing under heaven!!
The Elder Princess saw that the time was ripe and immediately began recruiting able-bodied men on the spot, "In a few days, I will lead people to the places the Divine Lady mentioned, Fujian and Lingnan, to find sweet potatoes."
"Those regions are vast with few people, so I need to recruit a few hundred able-bodied men to join me in the search."
"The Emperor also knows about sweet potatoes, but he strictly forbids officials from seeking them out because he believes sweet potatoes are a foreign crop, and eating them would be undignified."
The citizens heard this and thought, "......"
The soldiers in the city: ???
Our lives were almost lost, and he talks about dignity?
The Emperor must have eaten his fill!
But what about the citizens?
Tens of thousands froze to death outside the city walls while the palace feasted on meat and wine, didn't they? Without food, what dignity is there!
The Elder Princess successfully fanned the citizens' anger and discontent, continuing, "Citizens, you will only have a chance to survive if you find the sweet potato vines the Divine Lady spoke of!"
"Only then will you have a chance to eat your fill every day and never go hungry again!"
"Floods could not drown you, plague could not defeat you, so what about food? What will you do!"
The people's blood boiled as they shouted hoarsely, "Go find the sweet potato vines! Food cannot defeat us!"
"We want to live!"
"The Emperor heartlessly disregarded our lives and deaths, but we cannot wait to die. We want to live, we want to eat! We will listen to the Divine Lady and the Elder Princess!" The Elder Princess immediately arranged for her attendants to register these people.
Later, she would personally select a few hundred able-bodied men to go to Lingnan.
Very good.
Things were progressing smoothly.
"Then I wish you success in advance." Gu Sang smiled and closed the broadcast.
Ten minutes later.
The Elder Princess received a message from the system.
Prepare to establish a connection.
The Elder Princess left the crowd and went to a dilapidated, uninhabited house, where a large patch of sunlight shone through the roof, illuminating the empty and desolate interior.
The two women faced each other and smiled.
Gu Sang looked at the dignified woman standing before her and said, "You are even more outstanding than I imagined."
"Elder Princess, in a few days I will teach you a militarized management system that you can apply to the soldiers you recruit."
"This militarized management system will be far superior to the court training I improved before."
"It includes techniques for field operations, reconnaissance, combat, and more. After training, each soldier's potential will be a match for a hundred enemies, a level your era cannot compare to."
Hearing Gu Sang mention the militarized management system.
The Elder Princess remembered a few years ago when Gu Sang had also reformed the current imperial army. At that time, the Elder Princess had secretly studied management principles.
Little did she expect that Gu Sang would say that it was still not comprehensive enough!
If her soldiers could defeat a hundred enemies with just one man, then overthrowing Pei Changying's kingdom would be imminent.
The Elder Princess had already begun to look forward to it!
"Gu Sang, I won't say too many words of thanks."
"The position that Pei Changying is sitting in, I will take it! I will definitely overthrow this dynasty, and I will lead the women of this era to create an independent and self-reliant world of gender equality!"
"Also, don't call me the Elder Princess anymore. My name is: Pei Weiqi!"
"'Qi' means boundary, and 'Wei' means to defend, to safeguard!"